Cleaner element for cleaning machines



`lune 15, 1937. R, P, SWORD GLEANERELEMENT FOR CLEANING MACHINES FiledMay 27, 1935 Patented June 15, 1937 UNlTED STATES CLEANER ELEMENT FORCLEANING MACHINES Rowland I. Sword, Philadelphia, Ia., assigner toSword-Atherton Co., Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation ofPennsylvania Application May *27, 1935, Serial No. 23,634

2 Claims.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in a licor cleaningelement for cleaning machines and has for one of its objects to producesuch an element comprising a squeegee of gum rubber impregnated with asuitable abrasive for application to a floor cleaning machine.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning elementof the class mentioned having a serrated working edge.

In cleaning machines of the general class used for removing dirt orextraneous matter from floors or other surfaces it is usual toi employgritty substances with the iiuid which Aoften streaks the surface beingcleaned and does not regularly attain a uniform result. It is a furtherobject of my invention to overcome these disadvantages by including theabrasive as a part of the cleaning element whereby the necessaryabradant action is achieved without the use of a loose or free abrasivematerial.

With these and other objects in View, this invention contemplates theapplication of an article of manufacture to a specific use as will befully described and then designated in the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this inventionappertains, I will describe its construction in detail, referring bynumerals to the accompanying drawing, in which:-

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a rotor of a cleaning machine showing anumber of cleaning elements, constituting the present invention, carriedthereby.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged end view of one of the supports and the assembledcleaning elements.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof.

Fig. 4 is a face view of one of the cleaning elements, per se.

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 4, of a modified form of the cleaningelement.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a further modication.

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary bottom plan View thereof.

In carrying out my invention as herein embodied 6 represents a rotor fora cleaning machine including a plurality of radial arms 8 I. On top ofeach arm is a washer plate l and underneath is an inverted U-shaped orchannel holder 8. In the holder is a relatively thin filler plate 8l ofthe same Width as the interior of the holder and below said filler plate8| is a moulding strip 82 of less width than the iiller plate andlocated longitudinally thereof intermediate its side edges thus formingrecesses between the side surfaces of the moulding strip 82 and thesides of the (Cl. ill- 195) holder 8. The washer plate, holder, llerplate and moulding strip are fastened to the arm 8| by bolts 'll ortheir equivalent, passing through all of said parts.

Two cleaning elements 9 are carried by each arm of the rotor and theirupper ends are inserted in the recesses formed between the mouldingstrip 82 and the sides of the holder 8 and secured by fastening devices83 projected through the sides of the holder, said cleaning elements andthe moulding strip. The cleaning elements are thus arranged inparallelism and extend below the holder for accomplishing a wipingaction on a floor.

Each cleaning element 9 is of a form generally known as a squeegee andis composed of gum rubber impregnated with grains or particles of agritty substance or abrasive such as volcanic ash, emery, flint, pumiceor any suitable equivalent material.

The abrasive substance must be fine enough as not to score or damage thesurface being cleaned yet must be sufficiently coarse to readily loosenor remove dirt Aor extraneous matter from such surface, leaving the.cleaned surface with the minimum amount of sheen to avoid thepossibility of accident by slipping. Also the quantity of abrasivematerial in the rubber must be adequate for the purpose intended andstill leave the cleaning element flexible, however the amount of theabrasive material must not be such as to make the cleaning elementbrittle and therefore likely to crack or break while in use.

With a cleaning element of this character applied tol a cleaning machinefor use in cleaning floors or other surfaces of wood, marble, stone,artificial stone or other relatively hard material, the dirt orextraneous matter will be loosened and dislodged for removal inanysuitable manner.

In actual practice it is customary to use one of the edges of thecleaning element as the working surface and this working surface maybestraight as illustrated in Figs. l to 4, or it may have serrations I0 ofany desirable conguration or contour as shown in the modification 9aillustrated in Fig. 5, but in every instance the cleaning element ismovable laterally.

The cleaning element may be produced in various forms or configurationsand by any of the well known processes .of manufacture. For instance,such element, designated by the reference numeral 9b, may be composed ofmolded compound rubber containing an abrasive and including flexiblefingers.- as shown.

I am aware that articles composed of. rubber CTI with an abrasiveincorporated therein have been used and therefore I limit myself to thepro'- vision of such a composition for use as a floor cleaning elementwhen applied to a floor cleaning machine.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and usefulis:-

1. In a device of the kind described, the corn-- bination with a rotorincluding a plurality of radial arms, an inverted U-shaped or channelholder on the under side of each arm, a ller plate of substantially thesame width as the inside of the holder mounted within. and against thetop wall of said holder, a moulding strip of less width than the llerplate and placed against the latter longitudinally thereof intermediatethe sides edges thus forming recesses between the moulding strip and thesides of the holder, a 10 washer plate on top .of the arm, fasteningdevices projected through the washer plate, arm, holder, ller plate andmoulding strip for securing said parts together, cleaning elementscomprising fiat strips of abrasive rubber inserted in the recesses, andfastening devices projected through the sides of the holder, thecleaning elements and the moulding strip for attaching said cleaningelements.

` ROWLAND P. SWORD.

